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| - Æthelweard (also spelled Ethelward), Anglo-Saxon historian, was the great-great-grandson of Æthelred of Wessex, and was ealdorman or earl of the western provinces . He first signs as dux or ealdorman in 973, and continues to sign until 998, about which time his death must have taken place. In the year 991 he was associated with archbishop Sigeric in the conclusion of a peace with the victorious Danes from Maldon, and in 994 he was sent with Bishop Ælfheah of Winchester to make peace with Olaf at Andover. Æthelweard was the author of a Latin Chronicle extending to the year 975. Up to the year 892 he is largely dependent on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, with a few details of his own; later he is largely independent of it. Æthelweard gave himself the bombastic title "Patricius Consul Quaestor Ethelwerdus," and unfortunately this title is only too characteristic of the man. His narrative is highly rhetorical, and as he at the same time attempts more than Tacitean brevity his narrative is often very obscure. Æthelweard was the friend and patron of Ælfric of Eynsham, who in the preface to his Old English Lives of saints, addressed Æthelweard and his son Æthelmær. New scientific research found the reason for Æthelweard's obscure Latin. He wrote his work on request of his relative Mathilde, abbess of Essen monastery and granddaughter of emperor Otto I and Eadgyth of Wessex, to help her in the duty of keeping the remembrance of the dead relatives. Mathilde was not able to understand Æthelweard's preferred old English, therefore he had to write in Latin. Most likely Mathilde rewarded him with a copy of Vegetius' work De Re Militari which was written in Essen and survived in England. The later medieval historian William of Malmesbury says of him "... a noble and illustrious character, who attempted to arrange these chronicles in Latin, and whose intention I could applaud, if his language did not disgust me it would be better to be silent..." Æthelweard was the brother of Ælfgifu, the wronged consort of King Eadwig, who was their foster-brother. He and Ælfric of Hampshire - who later turned traitor - were said to have suggested the idea of danegeld. He was father of ealdorman Æthelmær Se Greatta and grandfather of Æthelnoth, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1020, and was later regarded as a saint.. Æthelmær has been identified with the man of this name whom chronicler John of Worcester made father of Wulfnoth Cild and brother of the notorious Eadric Streona (although the Worcester chronicler gives their father a different name), leading to a genealogical reconstruction that makes Æthelweard the father of Eadric, and the great-grandfather of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the father of king Harold Godwinson, a reconstruction that is still in dispute. Eadric's involvement with the attempt to rescue Alfheah from the Danes in 1012 by raising a large ransom may suggest his involvement in Æthelweard's earlier mission at Andover. Æthelweard had access to a now lost version of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and was an example of a secular writer in a time where this was largely the preserve of monks. He was also at the centre of contemporary politics and his idiosyncratic Latin style is inspirational to schoolboys everywhere. (en)
- Æthelweard (Ethelward) war ein angelsächsischer Historiker. Er war der Urenkel Æthelreds, des Bruders von Alfred dem Großen, und Ealdorman oder „Earl der westlichen Provinzen“, womit vermutlich Wessex gemeint ist. (de)
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